Like a Dragon: Ishin is breaking from the traditional modern setting of the mainline series and dropping players in the 1860s at the height of Japan's Bakumatsu period. A spin-off game such as Like a Dragon: Ishin has more room to play with the timeline given its non-canon nature, but there is still a lot of room for the mainline series to explore history with canon entries that cover the founding of the franchise's two biggest factions: the Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan.
The farthest back the mainline games have gone is the 1980s with Yakuza 0. While this entry served as a prequel for series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and his eternal rival Goro Majima, there are more stories that predate these characters which have only been mentioned so far. As Yakuza: Like a Dragon showed with its new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, a game doesn't need Kiryu as its protagonist to be successful.
The Omi Alliance's 100-Year-Old Founding Would Make a Great Story
As one of the largest and oldest yakuza factions in the series, the Omi Alliance has nearly a century's worth of history that could be explored. Although its main role throughout the series has been the Kansai-based enemy of Kanto's Tojo Clan, it predates the Tojo Clan by several decades. Omi Alliance Captain Masaru Watase tells the Osaka PD in Yakuza: Like a Dragon that the Omi Alliance is just over 100 years old. Given Yakuza: Like a Dragon takes place in 2019, this means the Omi Alliance was likely founded between 1910 and 1920.
The early 20th Century would be interesting for a new story in the Like a Dragon series given the climate of Japan at the time. This period saw the end of the Meiji Era and Japan's rise to an industrial world power, as well a period of economic turmoil in the 1920s following several conflicts like the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and World War 1. With these events as a backdrop, the pieces would be in place to discuss the founding of an organized crime syndicate like the Omi Alliance within a brand-new aesthetic.
The Tojo Clan's Founding Could Be a Powerful Post-War Tale
The Tojo Clan is the main faction featured in the Like a Dragon series, playing a central role in a majority of each entry's plotlines. Although it is not as old or large as the Omi Alliance, the Tojo Clan is powerful enough to rival its legacy. The Tojo Clan was founded by its first chairman Makoto Tojo sometime prior to 1968 - its earliest known date of activity, and the year hitman Shintaro Kazama killed Kiryu's parents. Given the Tojo Clan is on its third chairman by the 1980s in Yakuza 0, it's likely the date of its founding is sometime between 1950 and 1960.
This time period would be perfect for a game staring Makoto Tojo. The series already has ties to this post-World War 2 era with the Secret of Onomichi and its role in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Minoru Daidoji, the navy Admiral who commissioned the battleship at the heart of the Secret of Onomichi, would become a prominent politician during this era and could appear as a key figure. As many Japanese citizens struggled to rebuild after the devastation of the war, an emotional tale of rising from the ashes to start the Tojo Clan would be right in line with the themes of the Like a Dragon series.
Like a Dragon: Ishin releases February 21, 2023, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.